Improvement in the manufacture of flour



`0.1%.KN:CKERBOCKER. MANUFACTUREOF FLOU'R.

N4 PETERS. PHOTOJ-ITHORAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES R. KNICKERBOCKER, OF JACKSON,MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOUR.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 194,356, dated August 2l,1877; application filed March 30, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GnARLEs R. KNIOKER- BOGKER, of Jackson, in thecounty of Jackson and State of Michigan, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Method or Process of Drying Flour, Meal, Grain,or similar substance; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact Vdescription thereof, which will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertaius to make and use the same.

Prior to the date of `my invention it had been customary to subject themeal to the action of artificial heat during itsV passage from the burrsto the reel-bolts for the purpose of drying it, in order to facilitatethe separation of the impurities from the flour, and in some cases themiddlings which had been bolted from meal thus treated were purified byair-currents.

But I have found that the abov'edescribed method is defective in itsresults, and in some respects more objectionable than y the stillearlier method of sending the meal or chop directly to the bolting-reelswithout the intervention of the heating process; because, rst, the chopis not thoroughly dried, or, at least, is not dried quickly enough toinsure a thorough separation by bolting; and, secondly, the introductionof the chop into the boltingchest in a heated condition, and carryingwith it a large amount of aqueous vapor, acts badly upon thebolting-cloths, sweating77 the cloth and the bolt-chest.

It is obvious that this second objection is removed by subjecting thematerial to the action of air-currents during its passage from theheater to the -V bolt, and thus thoroughly cooling and drying it beforeit is placed upon the bolting-cloths for separation; and I have found byexperiment that the separation of the vrefuse from the valuable materialis very greatly facilitated by drying the chop quickly by means ofair-currents and before it is separated by a bolt.

The rst part of my invention consists,

therefore, in subjecting the material to the action of air-currentsimmediately after such material has left the heater, and before it isplaced upon the separating-cloth, whereby it (the material) is rstheated, secondly quickly cooled and dried, and, thirdly, separated.

The second part of my invention relates to material be exposed tocurrents of coolair.

while it is hot, and the moisture which it contains vaporizes readily,the particles, particularly of the larger granulesv of the iiour-proiducing portion of the berry and of the bran, being expanded by theaction ofthe heat, the entire mass will be much more thoroughlydriedthan the same material will be if itis al-` lowed to cool slowly.

I find also that if the material, after leaving the heater, be cooledquickly by means of aircurrents -the impurities adhere to the our andmiddlings with much less tenacity than they do where the mass is cooledslowly, and is, during the slow cooling process, stirred together, as ina reel-bolt or hopper-boy, that, after the particles have been detachedfrom each other by the action of heat and the vapor produced by theheat, such separation remains much more perfect, and the impurities aren 'more easily removed by reel-bolts or middlingspurifiers if thematerial is rapidly dried by the application of air-currents, than if'the' same is slowly cooled by the treatment to which it is ordinarilysubjected in bolts.

In the carrying out of my invention or new method of purifying theproducts of grinding4 wheat, I propose to employ any of the wellknownapparatus for heating and drying meal, ilour, middlings,lgrain, or othersimilar substances, for the purpose of heating t-he chop or middlings tothe temperature and for the length of time which the kind or conditionof the material may indicate as being advantageous, and in substantiallythe usual manner. l

current carries with it a good deal of moisture,`

which would otherwise be retained in the material, and leaves the our,middlings, bran,

and other impurities in a crisp and sharplygranulated condition, whichgreatly facilitates their subsequent separation.

I have shown in the drawings one construction of apparatus adapted forcarrying out my invention, in which the parts B b b1 b2 C c cX vg g ikrepresentthat part of the apparatus vin which the material is subjectedto the action 'of heat, and is' more specifically described in PatentNo. 162,910 granted to G. S. Fuller, May 4, 1875. Y

After the heat has beenl applied the material lpasses to that part ofthe apparatus where it is suddenly cooled and dried by the action ofair-currents.

The shaker is represented by D, the fan by H, the air-trunk by I, andthe conveyer by L. F is the feed-roller, and E a cam or ratchet wheel toimpart motion to the shaker.

After the material has been sufficiently cooled and dried it may hecollected by the conveyer and carried to the head of the machine, Whereit may be delivered through the the spout o to the crushing-rollers O O.

Under some circumstance I may ind it advantageous to employ a reel, orsome of the puriers in which suction-spouts are employed, in which toapply the air-currents during this drying process; but I prefer -theshaker, as above described.

When preferred, the our may be bolted out without drying and themiddlings only be heated, and the middlings or a portion of them may bepassed through rollers, either before or after heating and drying, orbetween the heating and drying operations.

' In order to remove the adhering iiour from bran, I heat such bran, anddry .it quickly by air-currents, then either pass it through abran-duster directly or crush it by rollers or otherwise, and theneither bolt out the flour or run it through a bran-(luster, as itscondition may indicate.

Although I have pointed out the machinery and the method of using itwhich I regard as being the most desirable, yetI do not wish to belimited to the use of the appliances here set forth, as manymodifications might be 'employed without departing from the spirit of myinvention, which consists, essentially, in subjecting the material toair-currents immediately after it has been acted upon by artiicial heat,and before 'boltingz I do not claim, broadly, the preparation of flouror middlings for bolting by heating with artificial heat, as that isshown in vpatent to C. F. Fuller, May 4, 1875; but Fullers specification states that the meal which has been heated is subsequentlyseparated into our, y

middlings, Sto., by bolting, and that the middlings may be then purifiedby an air-current, whereas the first part of my invention consists insubjecting the material to the action of artiicial heat, and then to theaction of aircurrents, as treatment preparatory to the sep-.

aration of the refuse from more valuable portion.

From the above description it will be seen that the first part of myinvention may be ap. plied to middlings, as well 'as to the chop, byheatingthem, and then cooling and drying them suddenly by means ofair-currents; and it will also be seen that such treatment of middlingsis notdescribed by Fuller, as he nowhere explains that he followed theapplication of heating by the application of air-currents without anintervening process of bolting.

What I claim is- 1. The herein-described process of preparing theproductof grinding grain for separation by heating it and thensubjecting it, while in a heated condition, to the cooling and dryingaction of air-currents, substantially as set forth. f

2. The herein-described method or process of separating flour from bran,by first heating the bran, then drying it by aircurrents, then crushingit, and then removing the dour which has been thus detached,substantially as de? scribed.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses. f

CHARLES R. KNICKERBOCKER.

l Witnesses:

J. G. BONNELL, W. B. KNIcKEaBooKER.

